Monday, March 7, 2011

SAN QUENTIN -- Condemned inmate James Glenn Van Pelt, 54, was pronounced dead of natural causes at an outside hospital facility yesterday morning. Inmate Van Pelt had been in the hospital due to a deteriorating medical condition.

Van Pelt was received onto California’s death row from Riverside County on July 18, 2002, for the murder while lying in wait and the torture of Frank Aguilar, on January 22, 1985, as he mistakenly believed the victim was responsible for killing his friend Raymond Ziegler.

Van Pelt was sentenced to death in Riverside County on July 12, 2002.

Since 1978 when California reinstated capital punishment, 54 condemned inmates have died from natural causes, 18 committed suicides, 13 were executed in California, one was executed in Missouri and six died from other causes. As of March 7, 2011, there are 712 offenders on California’s death row.